SAN MARCOS: Petitioners ask Palomar College Board to push vote on student government autonomy

Palomar College students who circulated a petition to sever the
student government from the administration asked the college
governing board last week to expedite a vote on the matter.

Governing board officials said they expect student officials to
resolve the matter themselves, adding that intervening in the
debate would reduce, rather than enhance, the student government's
autonomy.

"The (Associated Student Government) is an independent
association of students, with their own bylaws, and constitution:
something that the governing board really shouldn't interfere in,"
said Board President Mark Evilsizer.

The petition calls for the ASG to end its association with the
Office of Student Affairs, which advises the body, and to instead
select its own faculty adviser. And it urges the body to hold
campus-wide elections for all positions, instead of appointing
student senators by committee.

Alberto Nunez, a former ASG presidential candidate and part of a
group of students who wrote the petition, said students promoting
the changes gathered more than 1,100 signatures in support of their
petition, which he said should move the matter to a special
election.

He said, however, that the ASG failed to act on the petition
within the requisite 20 days, so petitioners sought the governing
board's intervention to move the matter forward.

ASG Vice President Cody Dean said, however, that the ASG hadn't
taken action because it had not received backup information it
requested.

The petition claims the changes it calls for are necessary to
address "an ongoing pattern of fraud, corruption and abuse by the
(Office of Student Affairs.)"

It claims that officials with the Office of Student Affairs have
manipulated committee appointments, falsified reports, mismanaged
ASG money, failed to report claims of sexual assault and retaliated
against whistleblowers. The petition mentions no specific
instances.

Dean said he hasn't seen any details, and is not convinced of
those allegations.

"They make numerous claims," Dean said. "According to some of
the people on our board, some of the statements on there aren't
factual. We asked that they bring in some proof of their
claims."

Vice President of Student Services Mark Vernoy, who oversees the
Office of Student Affairs, said the college has investigated the
charges, and won't get involved in the petition.

"Basically, these things are attached to an initiative that's
going to ASG, so essentially we would have no comment on those
until the ASG has ruled on the initiative," Vernoy said.

Director of Student Affairs, Sherry Titus, who serves as adviser
to the ASG, said the governing board has previously aired the
complaints, directed against her and other college officials, and
said she thinks the student government already acts
independently.

"I'm in favor of students having a voice on campus, which our
current ASG does have, and they represent the students on our
campus very well," she said.

Nunez said that the petitioners submitted a packet of
information substantiating the claims to the ASG on Sept. 28, and
said the body must now take action on the matter.

"We had a feeling they wouldn't do anything, hoping people
forget it," he said. "But we're on them, and they violated their
bylaws by not responding to the proposition on time."